Sunday, November 23, 2008

As part of the highly talented Brisstyle ETSY Street Team, I am pleased to announce our first ever Market Stall.

If you are a budding ethical consumer who is looking for gifts that are unique, well-made, with a little soul, and a lotta style, then The 2008 BrisStyle Christmas Market in Hamilton is the place to Shop.

Find a magnificent selection of handmade goods at the BrisStyle Christmas Market.The Historic Town Hall in Hamilton creates the perfect environment for this boutique event. Ample Street parking & easy access via the Rivercat, the hall has wheelchair and pram access as well as plenty of shade.The gourmet food stall in the leafy courtyard is catering for the Brisbane summer with cool drinks and traditional Christmas treats.Meander through the stalls of the distinctive and the fresh, chat to the makers and learn about them, and their wares, while the soothing sounds of the acoustic entertainment kindles your Christmas Spirit.You’ll find something very different here.

Like most sellers on etsy.com, the BrisStyle designers take great pride in adding that little extra for their customers. Whether it’s beautiful packaging, personal gift wrapping, little cards, or extra gifts, it’s sure to be something that touches the heart.This Christmas the artists and designers of BrisStyle will also give their support to various charities with the hope that through your gift giving, you and they can make even a small difference to someone’s life.

So embrace the BrisStyle enthusiasm, support your local community and shop ethically this Christmas.Location: Hamilton Town Hall, Cnr Rossiterand Racecourse Rd, Hamilton, BrisbaneDate: Saturday 13th December 2008Time: 9am – 4pm

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Well, I turned up at 7:00 on a sunny Brisbane morning at North Pine Country Markets. The other casual stall holders were queued in their cars and we all were lead to our spots.

I set up next to a lovely American selling her handmade jewellery, and a family running a scented candle stall. The American was only there at North Pine for her second market at that location, but was a seasoned marketeer of 15 years experience. The Family running the candle stall were permanent stall holders in their regular Sunday spot. These two people taught me a lot over the day.

They shared two valuable pieces of information - put your work as close to the customer as possible. You may have a whole tent space but people are not comfortable walking in. You need to draw them in and the window of opportunity to catch their attention is only seconds. So have your work at the very front of your stall looking as good as possible. The other tip for people who want to do markets is that you need to earn the trust of the area of you market so you need to go back several times and get known before you get any real sales. Both these pieces of advice a rock solid.

My stock was good and well priced and when I got people to look at it there was interest and sales but I did not have my work set up well (you had to come in). I will remember this next time. The candle store was super well done. They had a well developed product range in fabulous packaging with easy to read pricing. The colour scheme was lovely white tablecloths and pink highlights with a pink and white uniform worn by the owner. They used personalised packaging and had loyalty reward cards. They attracted people with more than one sense (visual, smell, and tactical) and had the best pack up system ever.The American jewellery seller was different. She also set up very well and had discounts available for multiple purchases. She was very warm and engaged people so they stopped and chattered. This gave them time to look at the stock and to upsell - what a gift for conversation.

While at the market I met the marvellous Trish from Trishalan Designs. She is so bright and engaging. She was very good to share secrets and stories with and we compared notes about how glad we both are that we are part of the brilliant BrisStyle team and the excellent support and effort they give to we members.

In all the market was very worthwhile for learning and now that I have got the stall ready, I can use when I want. The day was fun, the people and location really special, but oh god NEVER in that heat again!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I have been working away madly and I finally am ready to run my first market stall. Weather permitting, I am off to Old Petrie Town (the North Pine Country Markets) Dayboro Road, Petrie this Sunday for a day of meeting, greeting, selling and fun! Here is some of the items I have lined up. If you look closely you can check out some of my fab op shop buys reborn into signage (the Sharlzndollz sign is an old whiteboard hung on a clothes airer), display stands (cup stands, toast racks, and spice racks), and even stock as in the recycled contaciners below (bikkie and Eclipse mint boxes).Recycled Art Containers - the old holds the new

Paper dolls for sale

Keep in touch with the Wristlet DisplaySharlzndollz Store Sign- hang in there

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I have been recently combing charity stores and my daughter has been accompanying me. I have been looking for items to use for my market stall while she is expanding her collection of pre-loved Barbie dolls (about 15 to date). We love the atmosphere and the thrill of never knowing what treasure you will find. But I have got one bug bear that I must share - the number of Barbies with bad haircuts. It seems a tragedy to me that these dolls end up with matted thatches or crew cuts. I prefer to rescue the Barbies and reinstate their lovely locks. My treatment works. After a thorough body clean and sponge off of the hair (not immersing the hair in water) I apply leave in hair moisteriser (my favourite is Pantene Pro-V Leave In Hair Moisteriser) from tip to root and brush using a dolly brush (not people brush) again from tip to root. The result is lovely refreshed hair full of shine and knot free. I have tried it on Barbies' as old as 35 years and it works a treat. Just check out the pictures of Princess Jasmine (not a Barbie I know but her hair was so bad - it even had the original plastic crown matted into the heair and broken down by UV) I have included two before and two after pictures.